Mist in the Force
by Kaledena
Summary: As the ship floats away from the resently destroyed Malachor V, all is not well. The story is not over and there is darkness in the horizon. If that wasn't hard enough, the exile is dealing with feelings she never possessed before for a certain scoundrel.
1. Chapter 1

I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS! Enjoy .

The undamaged ship, The Falconer, flew from the remains of the planet Malacor V. The noise from the exploding planet had turned into a torn silence. The crew had lost a member, but was in relief. Or at least most of them were. In the cargo hold, the exile lay motionless, her long, dark red hair falling cascading around her. Her eyes were clenched shut, an uneasiness wrapped around her like a blanket.

_:'Nieka, you betray yourself.':_

She sat upright, sweat forming on her brow.

"Kreia?" She sat aloud, without realizing it. Nieka's mind was sharp, knowing that Kreia _couldn't_ be alive. She had just killed her mentor. She wouldn't, couldn't say that she was her master. First off, if she were her master, it would not have mattered if she- the exile, had survived as she did. Secondly, she had never agreed to become a student in the first place. A master would not have used her as Kreia did.

Then the thought struck her. She felt absolutely nothing when Kreia had fallen. She wasn't in pain. Only remorse. What about the bond?

There was silence. No answer came to soothe the exile's stress filled mind.

Wiping the sweat of her brow, Nieka lowered herself back down. Her muscles hurt as they had never hurt before. It was like she was crawling for her life but with no place to go. It shouldn't have hurt the way it did, she had gone through much worse before that day- at least physical wise. Mentally, she wasn't so sure. It came close to the last time she was at Malacor. The world that no longer existed had tormented her dreams for years.

"Nieka?" a gentle but fierce voice said, trying to comfort her.

She looked up, her brown eyes aflame. Then, she saw Atton. He had been with her as long as Kreia had, although they never agreed on anything. It had seemed much longer than it was… only a few months. Maybe four.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting down next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You're shaking."

"Something's pulling at me, Atton." She whispered quietly, "It shouldn't have ended so quickly- so easily."

"You can't give up now." Atton stated firmly. "All that you've done will be for nothing!"

"What if I've already done my part for this?" The exile said.

"Now you're starting to sound like me." Atton said with a smirk.

"We all know we don't need more of him." Mira said, walking into the room. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay." The exile said, breathing in deeply. A calmness fell over her face as she was done breathing deeply a few times. "How is everyone?"

"I think we'll live," Atton said from beside Nieka, "At least for the moment. You never know with you."

Nieka chuckled under her breath. "Am I really that dangerous?"

"Well, with a light saber- yes." Mira said as she rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go see how much bigger this ship is than the Ebon Hawk. Why couldn't we have this one the whole time?"

Mira walked out the door, the door closed from floor to ceiling behind her.

"She's always charming." Atton said just loud enough for Nieka to here. He gave her one of his unique smirks and stood up. "Will you be…ok?" He said, looking toward the door. Nieka failed to notice that Atton had a tint of red in his cheeks.

"I think I should rest." The exile said, standing as well.

"Meditate?" Atton said, rubbing the back of his neck and yawning.

"No." The exile said smiling, putting Atton in surprise, "I thought I'd sleep some."

"Sleep?" Atton mused, "is that in your schedule?"

"Of course it is." Nieka said, sighing. She stood as well, and grabbed her light saber. "I hope I don't have to use this for a little while."

"Don't worry… I'll make T3 watch the ship…" Atton said, "Dumb droid."

"Hey," the exile said defensively, "That little droid has been through a lot for us. I wouldn't part with T3 for all of the galaxy."

Atton laughed and started toward the door. The door opened and he began to step out. Nieka started forward and grabbed his shoulder. He spun around and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Why did you come all this way?" She asked, looking at the ground. She flashed him a smile, "and don't tell me it was for T3's good looks."

Atton smiled. "I didn't want you to face things alone… and it was mostly for your good looks."

The exile playfully shoved him out the door, and started walking towards the cabin. The cockpit was in the other direction, and that's where Nieka thought Atton would be going. He followed next to her. "Why do you want to know anyway?" he asked.

Nieka opened the door to the cabins, and twirled around. She looked at Atton, not sure whether to tell him she knew of his feelings for her or not. Of course, what did Kreia know?

"Nothing… it's just something Kreia said to me." She said softly, closing her eyes.

"That old witch? I knew she was bad news." Atton said, leaning on the doorframe.

After a moment of silence, Nieka looked at Atton. "We should get some sleep."

"Relax some okay?" Atton said smirking, "Oh- where are we off to next?"

"You choose." The exile said, closing the door between them. They never looked away from each other as the door closed.

The exile walked over to a bed and collapsed onto it. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply again. 'Relax…. It was nothing…'

:'Do not let yourself feel, you are too important to get distracted like that.':

The exile was almost too tired to listen, although she had one thought pass her mind as she drifted into sleep.

_:'Even the fool is not ignorant of the fact that he can't offer anything to one such as you.'_:


	2. Chapter 2

The uncomfortable feeling in the exile's body made her jump away. Sitting up, she felt her body ache. The muscles inside of her seemed to tense up and something felt like it was pushing on the inside of her body. In the back of her head a pounding was happening.

Swearing, the exile held her stomach and stood. Moving as quickly as she could, she knew she was going to hurl. She started into a run and shoved the ship's bathroom door opened. Someone was taking a shower. It didn't matter.

The exile threw her head above the toilet. When she was done, she was gasping for air.

Atton, who was convently taking a shower at the time, stuck his head out of the showering area (and no ladies, you don't see anything -.-…).

"Nieka?" He asked.

Gasping, she felt the pushing again. It wasn't right. It didn't feel like a sickness. It felt more like someone was trying to make her throw up her insides. Like someone was pushing on her all around.

"Nieka? You're bleeding! Oh shit!"

For the exile, everything turned into darkness.

2 hours later

"Goro Lars, awkward name isn't it?" Atton said, leaning back on the chair in the cockpit.

"When I said 'you choose', what gave you the notion to come here?" The exile said, staring at the world that the cockpit allowed you to see. The buildings rose up to high levels, and the landing pad they were on was already in the clouds. It would take months to walk around the whole city that Goro Lars was.

"Well- I figured we could use a nice place. Not only is half the republic agreements taken place here (a/n: a long time before our good old star wars….), but they've got some of the best places to just relax."

"You are a sucker for jama juice and pazaak, aren't you?" Bao-Dur said, coming into the cockpit. "Do you need anything?"

"I think we're fine," Nieka said, stretching, "I just want the crew to have the best time they can. I think we all need it."

"Yes- for a few days at least." Bao-Dur answered.

"Atton, if this whole time all I get is sour invitations from guys, I'm going to kill you." The exile said, glaring at him playfully.

"No sweat, you'll be by me the whole time." Atton replied coolly.

"Whatever." The exile said, shaking her head.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" the disciple asked gently, and Atton glared at him silently.

"Yes, thank you." The exile said. She didn't feel completely better, the pounding in her head was still there. If there were any Jedi left she would have asked them what it could mean- but she was the last Jedi at the time. She would include her padawans, but they weren't even close to completing there training.

"We should be expected," Bao-Dur said, "Considering the battle with the Sith."

"Who would expect us?" Mira asked, interested for some reason.

"Well," The disciple said, "People I work with will be expecting me."

"Hopefully they'll keep you." Atton mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.

"We're so glad to see you, after we heard about the battle with the (insert name of the one ship here… I can't remember the name of it… visas's master person's ship)." Siluchee, one of the republic officials, said with an altogether too pleased smile. He was a green humanoid with four arms and no hair- although a nice little hat. "The queen is very thankful to you, and so is the republic."

"It was my pleasure." Nieka said, smiling. In her mind she knew that the republic would fall, and unfortunately she would most likely be there to see it.

Siluchee told the exile that they had fine rooms available for the crew and there was to be a dinner they were invited to. Apparently someone of importance wanted to speak with them. Although Nieka didn't want to, she agreed not to be rude.

"If you'll excuse us- I think the crew needs rest before dinner tonight." Nieka said, trying to get away.

"Oh, yes, be our guest." Siluchee exclaimed.


End file.
